A Madagascar flying fox soars overhead in the early morning, before returning home to roost in a tree for the day. These large bats are very cool looking and do, in fact, have little fox faces. For a look at the face, check out this previous post. As I mentioned in that post, I was in the extreme southern part of Madagascar at a place called Berenty when I took this one.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/4.5 at 1/250th of a second
It was brought to my attention today that this past Saturday was World Pangolin Day — the forth annual such event to raise awareness of this amazing, yet endangered creature. Can’t believe I missed it. Here’s another shot of the rare pangolin/leopard encounter that I was privileged to witness on our most recent trip to Botswana. To recap, the young leopard was stalking the pangolin on and off for the good part of an afternoon. Most of the action took place in very high grass, making clear shots difficult, but worth the effort. Below is a shot of the pangolin in the clear.
Top Photo: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 135mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second
Bottom Photo: Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 220) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/8000th of a second
Here’s another one from Madagascar. Those little green eyes belong to a baby Coquerel’s sifaka lemur, hiding in the lap of its mother. They were pretty high up in a tree in the dry forest of the western part of the country. At the time I was using a manual focus 600mm lens on a cropped sensor camera, getting me out to about 900mm — more than enough distance to focus in on the baby. As the baby gets older, its eyes will turn more yellow in color. The Coquerel’s sifaka, like pretty much all lemurs, is on the endangered species list due to continued habitat loss.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm manual focus lens, ISO 200, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second
This white tailed deer is another of the residents of Saint Andrews State Park that I met on Tuesday. I think it’s a male, based on size, but it could be a female as this is the time of year that the males are without antlers. I started with my long lens and kept getting closer and closer. Eventually I had on my 17 to 35 and was shooting at 17mm, and even then I was able to get closer — so I pulled out my rarely used 15mm fisheye. He showed no apparent concern or irritation with me being right up in his face. In fact, he kept chewing the grass as if I wasn’t even there. Being a very highly visited park, I’m sure he’s been fed a lot by uninformed/unconcerned visitors. Whatever the case, if an animal doesn’t seem to mind, I like to get as close as I can and go as wide as I can. I took quite a few shots, but liked this particular frame because he appears to be telling me some sort of story or maybe a joke. Or maybe he was asking kindly for that KitKat bar in my backpack.
Nikon D810 with Sigma 15mm fisheye lens. ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/250th of a second.
I was down in Panama City Beach, Florida for the past couple of days on a work assignment and ran into a few of the furry locals. This little guy is commonly called a swamp rabbit — a subspecies of the cottontail that prefers things a bit more on the wet side. You can tell a swamp rabbit from an eastern cottontail because the swampers are bigger, usually darker, and they have a cinnamon ring around the eye, as opposed to white. As for the tongue, well, I guess he wasn’t pleased with the particular flavor of grass he was eating.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second
This one is a good example of the early morning ritual of the king penguins that I talked about previously. A few leaders go down to the shoreline and contemplate getting into the water, while the rest of the group hangs back, waiting to see what happens. It goes on like this for several hours as the penguins slowly make their way down the length of the beach before finally getting up the nerve to go for it. Once the first one goes in, the rest quickly follow.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/3200th of a second
The photo above doesn’t look like much. Until you look a little closer. Toward the bottom of the tree on the right side, you can see the head of a mossy leaf-tailed gecko blending into the bark — its hand is visible to the left. Pretty amazing camouflage. This is the way that these geckos spend the day while at rest. They have dermal flaps that can break up their outline, and they can change color to match their surroundings. When awake, they can look somewhat like the giant leaf-tailed gecko below (I posted a close up of this guy about two months ago). This particular gecko is doing quite the opposite — trying its best to stand out and scare off potential danger (me) with its bright red mouth. Note the tail that gives these geckos their name. Leaf-tailed geckos can also jump from tree to tree, and this one had just leaped from a tree that better suited its particular skin color and pattern.
Top photo: Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/2.8 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units.
Bottom photo: Nikon D200 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 400, f/4.5 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units.
This odd little creature is called a greater hedgehog tenrec. Despite the descriptor in the name, and the appearance, tenrecs are not related to hedgehogs. I found this guy on an afternoon walk in Maroantsetra, Madagascar.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 100, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon SB-800 flash
This is a Johnny Rook. At least that’s what the Falkland Islanders call them. Their more official name is the striated caracara, and this one was having a heck of a time trying to break open a gentoo egg that had been pilfered from a nearby penguin colony. All the Johnny Rooks, in fact, seemed to have poor technique when it came to cracking eggs. The other main egg burglars in the Falklands, the skuas, had no problem completing the task. They would impale the egg with their pointed beaks in a single stab. The Johnny Rooks, however, have hooked beaks and therefore employ a far less effective strategy by using their talons. It was as if they were playing soccer, as they kicked the egg from one bird to the other, each trying to keep it to themselves and each failing to crack what appeared to be a very hard egg.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 210mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/2000th of a second
The eastern, or red spotted newt goes through a stage when young when it is called a red eft. At this time, it is a very brightly colored orangish red and it lives on dry land. For the rest of its nearly 15-year life span, it remains in the water. I came across this little guy one rainy day while hiking in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in northwestern New Jersey.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 150mm with Canon 500D close up lens diopter) ISO 200, f/10 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units